General Meeting – 29th January 2026

Motions and Amendments received:

Motion 1: Research on the mental health impacts of trade union case work

Motion 2: Donation to the Camden Trades Council for local Trade Union history projects

  • Amendment 1 to Motion 2:

    Add sentence to the final Resolves
    “We note that obtaining copyrighted materials is costly, and regret that workers have to buy evidence of our own history at market rates. Our predecessors could not have foreseen their struggles would be used for future profit.”


Motion 3: SAVE LONDON MET

  • Amendment 2 to Motion 3:

    Add Notes 5:
    “5. London Met has imposed the harshest mass-sacking for over a decade now, and UCL UCU has joined their demonstrations. Leading UCU reps have been sacked.”

    Add Resolves 6:
    “6. UCL UCU should watch the London Met dispute and consider subsequent donations if necessary.”


Motion 4: No to Lock Out! Emergency Motion of Solidarity for Sheffield UCU

  • Amendment 3 to Motion 4:

    Add Resolves 5:
    “5. To ask UCL UCU Executive to write to national UCU enquiring into the legality of such a lock-out, ie, when legal strikers don’t replace classes”.


Motion 5: Motion of solidarity with FE colleges

  • Amendment 4 to Motion 5:

    Add Notes 5: “5. UCL UCU was greatly heartened by the support of local FE UCU branches such as Westminster and Kingsway when we launched our USS action seven years ago.”

    Change Resolves 1 to “1. To make a donation of £2000 to each college branch.”

    Add Resolves 4 “4. In general, as in the past, UCL UCU should support also Adult and Continuing Education (including Prison Education and City Lit”.

MOTION 1
Research on the mental health impacts of trade union case work

UCL UCU notes:

  1. Trade union case workers provide a vital service in the workplace, supporting colleagues going through HR processes (e.g. disciplinaries, grievances, redundancies, organisational change etc.).
  2. Anecdotally we know that many case workers are negatively affected by the cases they deal with, and that supporting colleagues who are often highly distressed due to unfair treatment can be stressful and upsetting.
  3. There is currently no peer reviewed literature that we are aware of that addresses this issue.

UCL UCU believes:

  1. That there is an urgent need for robust evidence on this topic to be available.
  2. Such evidence will provide support for trade unions to argue for improved HR processes, resulting in less harm to employees going through such processes.

UCL UCU resolves:

The peer reviewed paper produced by the study will be open access, and shared with all UCL UCU members on publication.

To fund a research study exploring the experiences of UK higher education trade union representatives who have supported members through HR processes such as disciplinaries and grievances, and the impact this has had on reps’mental health.

The cost of the study will be no more than £15,000, and will go through the usual ethical approvals for research.

MOTION 2
Donation to the Camden Trades Council for local Trade Union history projects

Trades Union Councils are local organisations that bring the Trade Unions (TU) of their area together, and together with local community organisations and campaigns of interest to the TU movement. They are a way for TUs to organise and to coordinate solidarity, and to help each other and relevant causes in various ways. Our branch is a member of our local TU Council, the Camden Trades Council (CTC).

This year, the CTC will be conducting two research and historical awareness projects, to raise awareness of our trade union history in Camden and show how our Trades Council has been at the centre of working-class life in the area, and encourage trade unionists to get involved in the TU and Trades Council movement: 

  1. Nine Days in May (4-12 May 1926) – The General Strike  
  1. 1 May 1958 – The Red Flag May Day   

The CTC is asking for donations from member branches to cover costs related with these projects, including the cost for installing a commemorative Red Plaque in a historic location and for acquiring copyrighted photos for exhibitions and other materials. 

UCL UCU agrees to donate £900 to CTC for this purpose, in addition to the £100 that the branch Executive Committee has already donated.

Amendment 1 to Motion 2: Add sentence to the final Resolves “We note that obtaining copyrighted materials is costly, and regret that workers have to buy evidence of our own history at market rates. Our predecessors could not have foreseen their struggles would be used for future profit.”

MOTION 3
SAVE LONDON MET

UCL UCU notes that:

  1. Senior management at London Metropolitan University has begun proposals to cut 120 academic jobs (20% of the permanent academic workforce), a devastating attack on staff, students, and the future of the institution. This is on top of cuts of casualised members in the summer.
  2. Essential services, including academic mentoring, are being cut, whole subjects such as Sociology are at risk, and vital socially focused research will be lost.
  3. Staff have been told that this is just the beginning. Further cuts are threatened.
  4. London Met has a long history of widening access and delivering high-quality higher education to working-class students in London. The current Board of Governors and senior management are abandoning this mission.

Amendment 2 to Motion 3: Add Notes 5 and add to Resolves 6: “5. London Met has imposed the harshest mass-sacking for over a decade now, and UCL UCU has joined their demonstrations. Leading UCU reps have been sacked”.

  1. This “financial crisis” has not stopped excessive senior pay (including a Vice-Chancellor salary of approximately £341,000), or plans to spend ~£20 million per year on buildings.
  2. The branch is in the process of preparing to ballot for strike action.

UCL UCU resolves to:

  1. Declare full solidarity with UCU London Met Branch and with London Met staff and students resisting these cuts. 
  2. Support the branch in any attempt to divide ‘permanent’ from ‘hourly paid’ staff.
  3. Set up ‘Twinning’ with London Met UCU, including encouraging UCL departments and faculties to support their counterparts, inviting speakers etc.
  4. Actively mobilise support for protests, rallies, and campaigning and any strike action that is voted for under the SAVE LONDON MET banner, including those planned for 3 and 9 February.
  5. Write to the LMU Vice-Chancellor and Chair of Governors demanding that the cuts be stopped.
  6. Pledge £5000 to the LMU UCU hardship fund should the branch strike over this issue.

Amendment 2 to Motion 3: Add Notes 5 and add to Resolves 6: “UCL UCU should watch the London Met dispute and consider subsequent donations if necessary.”

London Met is worth fighting for. Education and social justice must not be sacrificed to managerial short-termism. This is a UCU dispute of national significance. 

An injury to one is an injury to all.

SAVE LONDON MET.

MOTION 4
No to Lock Out!  Emergency Motion of Solidarity for Sheffield UCU

This union branch notes:

  1. That Sheffield UCU is in dispute with the University of Sheffield over the Executive Board’s refusal to rule out compulsory redundancy and pause its wide-ranging programme of reviews and restructures.
  2. The University has been in a constant state of change, with thousands of staff placed at risk via change management, and several hundred staff leaving the university over the last year through voluntary severance schemes and fixed-term contracts not being renewed. 
  3. Staff in ten works areas have also been targeted for voluntary severance, with threats to move to compulsory redundancies in those areas in the future.
  4. The branch took 16 days of strike action over four weeks before Christmas.
  5. Management has responded by locking out staff for initially three weeks in January for failing to replace teaching lost to strike action. 
  6. This is the first time in UKHE that an employer has locked out staff over labour that was withdrawn under legally called strike action, and the entire education sector needs to be considering the implications of this escalation, and what it might mean for future strike action tactics.
  7. The Sheffield UCU branch has established a Strike Solidarity Fund to supplement national UCU efforts to support its members struggling with the loss of income.
  8. The branch is also planning to escalate further with potential further action in spring semester and a reballot to continue the dispute if necessary.

This union branch resolves:

  1. To make a donation of £5000 now to the Sheffield UCU Solidarity Fund to support members locked out.
  2. To pledge £5000 to the Sheffield UCU Solidarity Fund as soon as further strike action is announced.
  3. To publicise the industrial action of the Sheffield branch among members, and to encourage them to support the strike and dispute in any way possible, including by signing the petition at    https://www.megaphone.org.uk/petitions/no-lockout-for-university-of-sheffield-staff and suggesting individual donations at https://www.gofundme.com/f/heubvb-support-university-of-sheffield-striking-staff 
  4. To send a message of support to Sheffield UCU to be shared on its webpage and social media.

Amendment 3 to Motion 4: Add Resolves 5: “5. To ask UCL UCU Executive to write to national UCU enquiring into the legality of such a lock-out, ie, when legal strikers don’t replace classes”.

MOTION 5
Motion of solidarity with FE colleges

UCL UCU notes

  1. As part of the New Deal for FE, UCU called successful strikes at nearly 30 Further Education colleges, including 3 colleges in the “Capital City College Group” in London: Westminster Kingsway, City and Islington and College of Haringey, Enfield and North East London.
  2. A further 20 colleges were offered awards up to 8.7% and took no strike action. 
  3. Members are low paid, and the branches have little or no hardship funds of their own. Members took 3 days of strike action this January and are preparing future strikes. The question of hardship payments is therefore important.
  4. The branch made a donation of £1000 to each of these three college branches when they were previously on strike and successfully won a pay rise.

Amendment 4 to Motion 5: Add Notes 5, change Resolves 1 and Add Resolves 4: “5. UCL UCU was greatly heartened by the support of local FE UCU branches such as Westminster and Kingsway when we launched our USS action seven years ago.” 

UCL UCU resolves

1. To make a donation of £1000 to each college branch.

Amendment 4 to Motion 5: Add Notes 5, change Resolves 1 and Add Resolves 4: “1. To make a donation of £2000 to each college branch.”

2. To invite a speaker to a future general meeting, ideally ahead of their next phase of action.

3. To send a message of support from the branch.

Amendment 4 to Motion 5: Add Notes 5, change Resolves 1 and Add Resolves 4: “4. In general, as in the past, UCL UCU should support also Adult and Continuing Education (including Prison Education and City Lit”.

https://www.ucu.org.uk/NewDealForFE